Well that Happened #4:Hazards of Sleep

As much as high-schoolers like me complain about constantly lacking sleep, this method of rest has its dangers.

It all begins with a simple statement. "I am tired" is my constant mantra while I work away the days at school. Yesterday was particularly tough because I'd arrived early to school for an NHS meeting, then stayed after school until around 9 PM for a color guard rehearsal.

Anyways, I returned home late last night so I just ate dinner then headed off to bed. I fell asleep, a curled up bundle of coziness, in the fetal position, not knowing that danger was about to strike. While I slept, I dreamed about a post apocalyptic world in which I was explaining to a friend how it came to be "post-apocalyptic" in the first place. Right as I was about to show my friend something important, I woke up around 3:00 in the morning.

Feeling slightly uncomfortable, I tried to sit up only to find that I was stuck. Somehow, my right arm had ended up over the top of my head. (Kind of like when you're in class, and you raise your hand, but your teacher doesn't notice for FOREVER, and you rest your arm on top of your head.) My arm had probably been up there for at least an hour, and therefore all the blood had drained from my hands and arms and my circulation got cut off or something. Either way, I found that I had no way of moving my arm.

I then started hardcore panicking. Half asleep, still and desperate to save my limp arm from atop my head, I used my left hand to grab hold of my right upper arm. I pulled my arm out from behind my head and tried to move it. I then found that all my arm was capable of doing was flopping uselessly. I proceeded to panic and flop my arm around like a fish out of water, until finally I regained some feeling in my fingers. 

Slowly, I was able to bend my fingers, then my elbow, and finally my whole arm around. My arm and hand tingled very violently (like there were push pins being stuck into them). When the tingling ended, my arm just had a dull pulsing sore feeling.

Afterwards, I lay in bed for a good hour in which I worried that if I were to fall asleep again, I might loose my arm motion PERMANENTLY. Finally around four-ish in the morning, I fell asleep again.

Moral of the story, beware of the dangers while sleeping. After what I have dubbed the "Legend of the Floppy Arm," I warn you to be constantly on guard for such hazards!

In the words of the wise, and slightly crazy Mad Eye Moody:

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!!"

Alexis